Inquisitor Crocs

[Dyson Logos]

In the creation of the deadOttawa campaign for deadEarth, I needed five varieties of mutated animals to fill specific niches in the setting (I'm going for a New Vegas feel, but wildly different at the same time). I needed a pair of predators, a sled-dog, a pack animal, and a food or herd animal.

deadOttawa is perpetually in winter - a nuclear winter wonderland.

I rolled for the base animal types using the tables from Palladium’s awesome classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness. I get 2 Dogs, Mountain Lions, Otters and Crocodiles.

Crocodiles!

Right off the bat, I’ve got mutant crocodiles running around in my nuclear winter wonderland. I love it. Without any other consideration, the Crocodiles are one of the predators of course – hiding in snowbanks, lunging out and eating post-apocalyptic babies. Let’s roll a few Radiations for them…

137 – Skipping Rock. Every round of swimming increases the difficulty of all skill rolls while swimming by 1D6. So these crocodiles can swim, but not for long. Awesome, crocodiles that can barely swim! No wonder they hide in snowbanks instead.
657 – Possession. 40 Skill Points. Opposed Resolve roll to take control over the target for 2d6 rounds. Even more awesome, crocodiles that take over their prey and make them wander towards their friends. Awesome Combo! Fortunately it costs 40 skill points, so they can’t do it often.
969 – Slippery. Skin secretes a slippery oil. +2d6 Escape and on maneuvers involving grabs, holds and so on. -1D6 hide (shiny skin).
Ok, I’ll run with this. Big oily psychic crocodiles that lurk in snowbanks, waiting for easy prey to wander past. They escaped from a petting zoo after the apocalypse and have been reproducing like crazy. Let’s make them bright red. They are known as Inquisitors or The Inquisition. Because no one expects the Spanish inquisition! That’s an awesome predator, way better than the typical non-irradiated wolves that I used in the first encounter.

Since most of you don’t actually play the awesomeness that is deadEarth, I’ll also rebuild the Inquisitor Crocodiles as a Mutant Future monster.

Inquisitor Crocodiles

No. Enc: 0 (1d4+1)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90′ (30′)
Swim: 90′ (30′)
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 1
Damage: 2d8
Save: L3
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: None

Aggressive hunters, Inquisitor Crocodiles look like shiny, bright red versions of their unmutated kin. Unlike their kin, they have adapted to living in cold environments and tend to hide in snow banks or other natural cover in order to disguise their brilliant red colouration. They are covered in a heavy slimy coating that makes them difficult to attack with most natural attacks (bare handed, grappling, constricting and similar attacks are at -4 to hit the Inquisitors).

While Inquisitors can swim, they cannot do so for long. Each round of swimming reduces their swim movement rate by 10′ and they suffer a -1 on all attack rolls until they stop swimming. After 9 rounds of swimming they will be unable to move any further and will drown.

Inquisitor Crocodiles are truly frightening because they can possess their targets to make them wander into easy ambush environments. They have a WILL stat of 2D6+4, and can only use this ability once per week. They will take over someone and have them wander practically into the jaws of another member of the pack before returning to their own body to join in the meal.

[Blood axe]

Sounds neat! Any info/links on DeadEarth?

[Dyson Logos]

Man, you gotta read my blog more often.

deadEarth is the most retarded RPG of all time.

For a few weeks I found myself completely obsessed over the game – a process begun because I tried to make a sample character for it – but the sample character died during character creation. Then the second character died. And the third, while he didn’t die, was rendered basically useless. In the end I rolled up 5 characters for the game, dug up a pile of old products for it, and even wrote a “Top 5″ list for it.

Yes, deadEarth is possibly one of the worst RPGs ever. But don’t take my word for it. You should try it out yourself and see what I’m talking about.

“But Dyson” I hear the cries, “the game is long out of print and even the website is gone now, how will I try out the most realistic and flexible post-apocalyptic RPG of all time for myself?“

Before shutting down deadEarth, the publisher made the magnanimous gesture of making the game free and freely republishable on a non-commercial basis, and I’ve added new material too!

My Collection of deadEarth Resources

[Blood axe]

Yes, deadEarth is possibly one of the worst RPGs ever. But don’t take my word for it. You should try it out yourself and see what I’m talking about.

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Worst??

[Dyson Logos]

Worst??

Truly.